OS/2 Shareware BBS: 7 Games/07-Games.zip/roids23.zip/roids.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1994-09-13 | 20KB | 380 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Overview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You control the small blue spaceship in the center of the screen. Your mission
is to destroy all the Bad Guys and asteroids in each sector by blasting them to
pieces with your cannon.  There's a twist, however: asteroids don't simply
disappear, they crumble.  When an asteroid is destroyed, it breaks into two
smaller asteroids (unless it's too small, in which case it's completely
destroyed) which must also be destroyed, and so on.  Yes, it's a completely
unoriginal idea, but it's a classic.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Playing the game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use the rotation and thrust Keys to fly your ship around the sector.  When you
come across an asteroid, blast it with your cannon!  You must destroy every
asteroid in each sector, so be thorough.  Avoid colliding with the asteroids,
because they'll destroy your ship unless you use your shield to protect
yourself.

In the Enhanced game, you'll be confronted with a host of Bad Guys who will do
their best to thwart your valiant attempt to save the universe.  Destroy them,
and make the universe safe for bipeds once more!

Your ship remains in the center of the window at all times.  The green lines
indicate your velocity, and give a rough idea of where you are in the sector.
Space is curved, so when you fly in one direction long enough you end up where
you started.  It is impossible to fly out of the current sector, so every
asteroid you see must be DESTROYED in a hail of devastating cannon fire like
the worthless slag it is!

The bright green box at the top of the window is your radar.  It displays the
position of each object in the sector as a colored blip.  The dark green box in
the center of the radar shows which objects are currently visible: if it's in
this box, you can see it.  The light blue blip at the center of the radar is
your ship.

Your score is displayed in the upper-left corner of the window.  The number of
lives you have left is displayed in the upper-right corner.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Hints and tips ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Don't shoot all the big asteroids first.  Choose one and completely destroy it.
Then choose another, and so on.  This way you don't have to contend with a
billion tiny asteroids later on.

Your cannon shells impart momentum to whatever they strike.  (To all you
physicists: your ship is equipped with a system that automatically compensates
for your cannons' recoil, preventing it from changing your ship's velocity. I
also realize that sound requires a propagation medium, but IT'S A GAME!)
Shooting an asteroid repeatedly from the same side will send the fragments
zooming off at high speed, destined to wrap around the playfield and hit you
from behind.  You'll have deserved it.

Likewise, your spaceship imparts momentum to whatever it strikes.  Running into
a small asteroid at high speed will not only send you careening out of control
(or you'll die, depending on whether your shield is up), but it will send two
tiny Death Angel asteroids flying about the sector at very high speed, and
they'll almost certainly hit you when you least expect it.

Keep in mind that you're in space and there's no drag to slow you down (except
asteroids and Bad Guys, and that tends to be a bit terminal, see above), so
you'll end up drifting.

Your radar and shield are your most powerful weapons.  Learn how to use them
well.  Shields are especially useful for bashing Bad Guys.

The best way to deal with Tetras is to exterminate them at the beginning of
each sector.  If you don't they'll breed and quickly fill the sector with their
offspring, probably slowing your computer to a crawl in the process.

The fastest way to kill a Bulb is to catch it in your shield and zap it.

Make sure you're pressing the shield key at the start each level.  This will
keep you from being killed right away: there's time enough for that later.

Don't go too fast.  You'll run into something.

Be sure to look both ways before crossing the street.

Register this game.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Scoring ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The scoring system goes something like this:

       25 points for each Large asteroid.
       50 points for each Medium asteroid.
      100 points for each Small asteroid.
      200 points for each Tiny asteroid.
      150 points for each Tetra.
      250 points for each Bulb.
      300 points for each Snipe.

 500 points for getting killed (sort of a consolation prize)

 You get an additional ship every 20000 points.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Default Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These are only the default keys. See the Options dialog help for details.

NOTE: all navigational keys are on the numeric keypad.

 Key       Purpose
 '4':      Rotate counterclockwise.
 '6':      Rotate clockwise.
 '5':      Thrust.
 '2':      Decelerate.
 '/':      Fire cannon.
 '.':      Activate Shield.

 'F1':     Help.
 'F2':     Start a new game.
 'F3':     Pause the current game.
 'F4':     Bring up the Options Menu.
 'F5':     Toggle between Full Screen and Windowed views.
 'F6':     Toggle sound on/off.
 'F7':     Increase game detail.
 'F8':     Decrease game detail.
 'F10':    Quit.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Options dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is where you customize Roids.  There are a number of options:

 Detail
    This slider sets the detail level of Roids.  If you have a slow computer
    and want to speed up game play, try decreasing the detail until you get
    satisfactory performance.  The game won't be as pretty, but at least it'll
    be playable.  I've had at least one user who complained that Roids was
    unbearably slow on his '486-66DX2, only to find that the Speed slider was
    set at "Slow".  You might want to check the setting of the Speed slider
    lest you feel as stupid as he did.

 Skill
    This slider lets you specify which sector you start at.  The higher the
    skill level, the higher (and more difficult) the sector.  Useful if you're
    getting bored (or creamed) by the early sectors.

 Big Dots
    If you're having trouble seeing radar blips or explosions, try making them
    bigger by turning Big Dots on.  Big Dots are a Big Drain on your computer,
    so unless you have a Pentium you should only turn them on in the radar.

 Speed
    This slider controls the speed of the game.  Use it to speed the game up or
    slow it down, according to your skill or state of mind. It's pretty simple.
    Just remember that this means game speed, not the speed of your computer.

 Game Type
    This is where you select which game you want to play.  Select Classic game
    if you want to play with just asteroids, or Enhanced Game if you want to
    play with cool Bad Guys

 Register
    Use the Register dialog to register Roids.

 Sound
    This check box obviously lets you turn sound on and off.  The only tricky
    thing about it is that it might be "greyed out", in which case you should
    check out Sound Troubleshooting. which will try to kill you.  Hey, it's a
    tough universe out there.

 Change Keys
    This button brings up a window which allows you to change the keys you use
    to control your ship.  Press the key you want to use for each action,
    following the prompts in the window.  If you make a mistake, simply change
    the keys again.  If you try to use a key twice, the second keypress will be
    ignored.  Use another key.  Also, be careful about which keys you use: OS/2
    reserves some keys (such as Alt), and using these keys as controls will
    lead to unpredictable results (I.E. Really Weird Stuff That The Programmer
    Doesn't Want To Deal With).

 Defaults
    This button recalls the default window position and options, and resets the
    high scores list.  Use this button with caution, because it automatically
    saves these changes to disk, and there's no way to undo them.  You'll lose
    your incredible new high score, and nobody will believe you.

 Save
    This button saves the current options settings to disk. They will be loaded
    automatically next time you play Roids.  If this button is "greyed out", it
    means that you are running Roids from a write protected disk (like a
    CD-ROM) so you can't save your settings.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Register dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

NOTE: To use this dialog, you need to have registered Roids and received your
User ID. (See How to Register).

Enter your name and your User ID, exactly as they appear on your Registration
Confirmation Letter / E-Mail.  Then click OK.  You should see a "Thank you for
registering Roids!" dialog.  If you don't, be sure your name and User ID are
entered correctly and try again.  If you still have trouble, contact me.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Sound Troubleshooting ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

First of all, sloppy MMPM drivers are the single most common cause of problems
with Roids.  Symptoms of sloppy drivers include:

     HORRIBLE performance.
     Roids quits for no apparent reason.
     The game just sits there for a while, and the resumes.
     OS/2 crashes.

 If you're having trouble with Roids and MMPM, try turning off the sound
 effects. This will at least let you play the game until you can get your hands
 on some newer sound card drivers from the manufacturer.  If you're using a
 Sound Blaster card, there are some new drivers out which are fantastic.
 They're available on CompuServe and the Creative Labs BBS.

 If you get the "MMPM not cooperating" dialog or don't hear any sound during
 the game and you're sure it's not your sound card driver's fault, your problem
 could be any one (or more) of the following:

 Sound isn't turned on
    Make sure the Sound checkbox in the Options dialog is checked.

 MMPM isn't installed on your computer
    The Multimedia Presentation Manager/2 must be installed for sound effects
    to work.  If you don't have it installed, you won't get any sounds.

 You don't have a compatible sound card
    If you want to hear sound effects, Roids requires a sound card capable of
    playing 11kHz 8-bit mono .WAV files.  If you are unsure about your sound
    card's ability to do this, consult the manuals that came with your card or
    ask the manufacturer.  Don't ask me, I probably don't know.

 Roids can't find it's .WAV files
    Roids requires that all .WAV files it uses (see README.TXT for a list) be
    in it's working directory.  Check Roids' settings to make sure that they're
    there.

 You don't have enough RAM
    This is unlikely, but is possible if you have less than 8 MB of RAM.  Roids
    wants to hog a LOT of memory to store all of it's cool sound effects.  If
    it doesn't find enough, it will croak.  Roids SHOULD work with only 4MB (I
    think) but I make no guarantees.

 You've forgotten something
    Make sure your volume is turned up, everything's turned on, etc.  I always
    spend hours trying to figure out WHY my stupid printer isn't working right,
    only to find out (an hour later) that the cable's loose.  It happens more
    often than you'd think.

 Some other program is hogging MMPM
    Also make sure that no other programs are using MMPM.  Some programs are
    greedy and rude and don't like to share MMPM with other programs.  Make
    sure Roids gets MMPM all to itself.

 Something Else
    All I can offer are general suggestions.  Try using MMPM's .WAV player to
    play some of Roids' .WAV files (make sure Roids isn't running).  If this
    works, the problem is with either Roids or your sound card driver.
    Otherwise, there's a problem with MMPM.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. History of the game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Roids started out in late 1991 as a way for me to show my AP Computer Science
classmates that although they may get 1560s on the SAT, they couldn't program
their way out of a paper bag.  It was written on an XT using Turbo Pascal 4.0,
and was never distributed.

In early October 1993 I bought Borland C++ for OS/2 and thought that porting
Roids to OS/2 would be a good exercise.  I was right.

Roids 1.0 was released in December 1993.

Roids 2.0 was released in January 1994.  Changes include a resizable playfield,
full-screen mode, and the addition of numerous Bad Guys and bugs.

Roids 2.1 beta cashes in (yeah, right) on the Multimedia fad with cool sound
effects in May (?) 1994. Hopefully there are fewer bugs now.

Roids 2.2 adds a few more options, and is optimized for integer math.  More
bugs are eliminated, and it runs a bit faster.

Roids 2.3 fixes the bugs in Roids 2.2.

Please excuse any rough edges: this is my first OS/2 programming effort.  Roids
was written in a 1024x768 environment, and was designed for that resolution.
It may look a little strange or messy in other resolutions.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. About Hungry Man Productions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Hungry Man Productions is a (very) small San Diego - based organization of
artists, musicians, and computer programmers dedicated to producing quality
OS/2 games and clean aquariums.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Bug Reports / Contacting the author ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

I'd appreciate any feedback you might have regarding Roids, and I'm especially
interested in any bugs you might encounter.  Contact me via:

CompuServe E-mail: 73544,1154

Internet E-mail: [e-mail]

Requests for tech support will be looked upon with much more benevolence if you
have REGISTERED Roids, although I realize that if you can't play the game
you're not going to register it.  So E-Mail me.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. How to register Roids ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Send your name and street address (for faster response, also send your complete
E-mail address) along with a check for $10 (U.S.) made out to Leonard Guy to:

      Leonard Guy
      3415 Bangor Pl.
      San Diego, CA
      92106-2409
      USA

 In return you'll receive:

     A User ID number, with which you can personalize Roids and disable the
      opening dialog box.  This ID will also work on all future versions of
      Roids, so all upgrades are "free".
     Notification of new Hungry Man releases (Only if you include your E-Mail
      address).
     A thank you note.
     A clear conscience.
     Assurance that Hungry Man Productions will be able to continue writing
      games.

 If you live outside the United States, the best way to register is to send a
 money order (in U.S. funds) or equivalent.  It really doesn't matter, as long
 as it can be converted to U.S. dollars.  The Postal Service frowns on sending
 cash through the mail, but I won't tell . . .


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Boring Legal Stuff ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Leonard Guy assumes no responsibility for the correctness or applicability of
this software.  Under no circumstances will Leonard Guy or Hungry Man
Productions be held responsible for damage caused by use of this software.
This includes broken keyboards.

All product names mentioned in this document are used for identification
purposes only, and are trademarks of their respective companies.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14. Bad Guys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The dastardly villains:

 Tetra
    These yellow triangles fly through space, breeding like flies.  They slowly
    grow larger until they divide into four baby Tetras, which grow and breed
    just like their parents.  A very good example of exponential growth, an
    unchecked Tetra population will slow your screaming Pentium system down to
    a crawl.  So do what any good power user would:  Optimize!

 Bulb
    These extremely tenacious and tough blue octagons/circles scour space
    looking for energy.  They'll sense your ship, chase you down, and envelop
    you.  They do no physical damage, but your ship's motor and shield are
    rendered inoperable while you're enveloped. The only ways to dislodge a
    Bulb is by A) dying or B) blasting your way out with your cannon.  I
    recommend the latter.

 Snipe
    A Snipe is a nasty little bugger.  These unpredictable red squares flit
    through space firing pot shots at passerbys for no apparent reason.  When
    alarmed (or shot) they'll fire a barrage from their cannons, intended to
    destroy their assailant.  It usually works. Snipes are extremely
    trigger-happy and have been known to shoot at each other, setting up a
    crossfire usually seen only in L.A.